savoring the beauty in the everyday

being here for good (nod to Seamus Heaney)

My father’s ploughing one, two, three, four sidesOf the lea ground where I sit all-seeingAt centre field, my back to the thorn treeThey never cut. The horses are all hoofAnd burnished flank, I am all foreknowledge,Of the poem as a ploughshare that turns timeUp and over. Of the chair in leafThe fairy thorn is entering for the future.Of being here for good in every sense.

-from ‘Poet’s Chair’ by Seamus Heaney

When I first read this poem I thought the last line meant “being here for good in every sense.” As in: I’m here to do good works, here for a good purpose, here to stay, et cetera. I didn’t realise until later that the emphasis belongs on two words, i.e., “being here for good in every sense.” I am here – in Abilene; at ACU; in all kinds of friendships and relationships; on this earth; alive in this universe – for good. In all kinds of senses. There is so much potential for truth and beauty that stems from my own small life…all because of my wise and wonderful Creator who has put me here. Isn’t that amazing?

“Even the smallest person can change the course of the future,” Galadriel tells Frodo in Fellowship of the Ring. Later, in The Return of the King when Eomer scoffs at Merry, Eowyn flashes, “You should not doubt him” – speaking for herself as well as the little hobbit.

I am neither a hobbit nor a Rohan woman going into battle, but I am a daughter of the King – a shield-maiden and beloved of the Most High. I am here, for good, in every sense. And with that in mind, I can only look up and say “Thank You.”

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It is an honor to be a part of something so cosmically timeless and bigger than ourselves, yes? There is the bizarre paradox of being so small, so loved, and so useful. “What is man that You love him, and the son of man that You take notice of him?”